Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments
In-custody death investigations
Deaths in jails, prisons, police cars, and holding cells, investigated independently for families.
When someone dies in a jail cell, a patrol car, or a prison, the family is often given little more than a cause of death. The records that explain what happened, including cell check logs, medical requests, video, and the accounts of other detainees, are held by the agency responsible. An independent investigation obtains those records and tests the official explanation against them.
What an investigation looks for
- Cell check and observation logs compared with facility video
- Medical screening, requests for care, and the response to them
- Other detainees who saw or heard what happened
- The facility's policies, staffing on the day, and earlier deaths in the same facility
How these cases are investigated
In in-custody death cases, the work most often involves independent case review, public records requests, witness location and interviews, and pattern and practice evidence. What a particular case needs depends on what evidence already exists and what is at risk of being lost.
Nationwide, and civil rights only
Civil Rights PI works only on civil rights matters, including in-custody death cases, and accepts investigations in every state. Findings are delivered in a written report, with the source of every fact, for use by you and your attorney.
How it is investigated
Services these cases rely on
Witness Location & Interviews
Finding the people who saw what happened, including those the official report left out, and recording what they know while they still remember it.
Learn morePublic Records & Document Requests
Incident reports, use-of-force reports, dispatch records, policies, training files, and jail logs, obtained through public records laws and organized for the case.
Learn morePattern, Policy & Practice Evidence
Evidence that a violation was no accident: prior similar incidents, written policies, training gaps, and customs that support a claim against the agency itself.
Learn moreIndependent Case Review & Reinvestigation
A second, independent look at the official investigation: what was done, what was left undone, and where the report and the evidence disagree.
Learn moreMore case types